happy // shareef o'neal. [on hold]

off the table.

the soft pitter-patter of rain in the background woke monique up. she could feel pain radiating through her body and she shuddered, remembering what led to it. the events from earlier replaying in her mind like a broken record. she wished she had acted faster, maybe if she had acted different, maybe if she hadn't started fighting andrew, she wouldn't be like this right now. her phone laid discarded on the floor, screen cracked and she didn't have the energy to pick it up despite the continued messages pouring in. her body felt like it was on fire as she sat curled up into a ball on the floor. tears gathered in her eyes but she didn't let them fall. 

minutes passed, maybe hours before she decided to get up. gathering strength, she slowly uncurled her body from a ball and slowly but surely crawled to her bed. her grasp was weak as she tried to gather strength in her arms to lift herself up, pulling at the blanket that sat at the foot of her bed. curling her fist into the blanket and pulling, the blanket slipped off at the tugging and gasped as the wind was knocked out of her due to the sudden fall. she breathed in harshly, lungs burning but breathing in and out regardless. she hated this vulnerable state she was in but she had to persevere. grabbing the comforter, she used all her strength to pull herself up, grunting as she did so. finally making it onto the bed, she panted harshly as exhaustion started to seep in her bones and she had to shake it off, fighting the sudden urge to close her eyes. "come on mo, you can do this." she used her elbows to sit herself up, arms shaking a bit but nonetheless doing the task. she glanced at the carpeted floor and realised her phone's distance and wanted to cry. fuck! okay mo, one more time. she thought as she made to stand, taking a step then another as she tried making her way to the discarded phone. another step buckled her knees and she cried out as she fell onto the floor. close enough i guess. she crawled and grabbed the phone. her screen was cracked but it was working so it was good enough for her. she saw the time and it was nearing ten o'clock. she unlocked it and headed to her messages. she ignored the messages from her friends who were asking her to come out with them and came across messages from kadeem, remembering that she was supposed to message him about tutoring sessions.

IMESSAGE

kadeem: hey it's kadeem.

sent 18:32

kadeem: wait you know that. you have my number.

sent 18:32

kadeem: so you haven't said anything about the sessions

sent 18:40

kadeem: i wanna work a schedule around them since i work on some days.

sent 18:42

kadeem: monique? are you there?

sent 19:39

kadeem: i don't know if you're getting these but hit me back ight

sent 19:40

kadeem: ??

sent 20:03

kadeem: are you okay? i came across one of your friends and i asked about you but they said they didn't know where you are